BDM Race Team News

Barcelona 24 Hour 24th September 2011. 2nd in class.

The team prepared both Lamborghini Gallardos for the 24 hour race. 1 car was the test and set up car and the other was used for qualifying and the race.The Gallardo GT3 has never successfully completed a 24 hour race so this was a massive challenge for all involved. The first 3 drivers Mike Wilds, Simon Atkinson and Fiona James had great 1st and 2nd stints. The 4th driver, unfortunately had a big crash on his 2nd stint putting the car into the wall backwards.

The team repaired the body damage but were not aware of the damage that had been caused to the gearbox by the shunt. After a few more hours in the car the gearbox issues developed until it let go completely. In just under an hour the team removed the gearbox from the race car and the spare car and fitted the spare into the race car-no mean feat! The Backdraft Motorsport Lamborghini crossed the 24 hour finish line, remarkably, 2nd in class.

British GT Silverstone 8th October 2011. 1st in Class.

With less than 2 weeks to completely rebuild a race car ready for its first British GT race of the year, it's true we like a challenge. The British GT class B is for 2008 and older GT3 homologated race cars like ours. It runs as a class within the main race. A step up to British GT is set as our challenge for 2012 and this was to be a learning experience. The championship is extremely well run and the Lamborghini fits in very nicely in what is a very cool line up of exotic machinery.

James Pickford partnered Simon Atkinson for this event and qualified very well. Working with the Avon tyres was certainly challenging and there is definately more work to do on the set up of the car over the winter. We need to gain some pace and work on different compounds to gain some pace. We actually won the class but our main competition failed to finish.

New driver and car for 2012 - Paul White Lamborghini Gallardo GT3.

Our success with the 2 Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 cars has not gone unnoticed this year. Paul White, usually seen racing his Mosler in Britcar, has bought a used Gallardo GT3 racer to compete in Britcar in 2012.

Adding a 3rd car to the team makes perfect sense as we are at the forefront of running and developing these cars now. The cars have pace, but reliability has always been the main issue.

Completing the 24 hour race has certainly proved that we have addressed these issues thoroughly. Over the winter Pauls car will be completely rebuilt and brought up to the spec of the 2 BDM race cars.

New Audi S3 Endurance Race car.

Backdraft Motorsport are also well known throughout the industry for building and competing their 1.8T Audi TT. The TT was sold in 2010. Over the last 4 years we have been developing the 2.0TFSi engine from the latest range of VW Audi group cars. We have developed the Seat Leon racing very successfully in Guatemala, Greg Partons KTM X-Bow in South Africa and our own 450 BHP X-Bow here in the UK.It's now time to build a flagship 2.0TFSi race car to demonstrate our abilities in 24 hour racing.

The key to this car is to have good pace, easy to drive long stints and be very reliable. The S3 Quattro is a good platform already well proven in the Leon Supacopa in 2 wheel drive form. The Quattro system will give that little bit of flexibility in changing driving conditions and extending the life of the tyres to stretch stints.

Looking forwards to testing at Castle Coombe  

Simon & Fiona are both looking forwards to testing at Castle Coombe on the 28th April. Both drivers are new to this circuit so cant wait to get to know this historic track & work on the set up some more together with Mike Wilds who will be coming along to help them both learn the circuit

Podium again for Simon & Glen at Rockingham

Simon & Glen again achieved 2nd place in class & 4th overall at Rockingham on 16/4/11. The team have all worked hard to address the set up issues both cars had at Silverstone during testing the previous week & got the car out in fine form for the race. Both Simon & Fiona are looking forwards to the next round at Donington where both cars will be out together

Success at Silvertsone 25-26th March 2011  

At Friday practice and intermittant fuelling problem meant one car was sidelined all day so that development time was limited. However, BackDraft Motorsport professionally took PANIC RACING’s Lamborghini Gallardos onto the starting grid on Saturday. Mark lead the team with such efficiency and a slick operation was evident. A fantastic race saw both Fiona and Simon deliver the goods in the car. There is so much more work to do but for our first time out we were truly proud of the achievements by the entire team. We learnt a great deal about the cars and hopefully set up changes should see stronger results at the next round. Thank you to those who came along to see us, we look forward to having you around again at Donnington.

Silverstone 26th March  

Panic Racing's debut race! Fiona & Simon have begun the season with great success. Simon & co-driver Glenn [glennracing.com] drove the Lamborghini Gallardo into 5th place overall and 2nd in their production class. Simon & Glenn were both fresh into the car with nil practice time as the car had a fuelling problem on the Friday. After a slow start Simon showed some driving skill & determination putting in quick laps of 2.11 - 2.12 and got them up to 3rd. A wee spin saw Simon lose some time & places. Glynn took over and put in some great times driving the car well despite tricky track conditions. Fiona had the experienced Mike Wilds' as co-driver. Her professional race experience showed at the start as she was quick off the mark, passing her team mate with a wave (!). Super driving followed. Car set up an issue meaning Fiona & Mike had a lot of under-steer to contend with. A spin & a gear box problem held her back but not for too long. Mike took over and tried his best with a foreign car in which he had also had no practice time in! Unlucky for Fi, Mike had to bring the car in with the fire truck in hot pursuit 30 mins from the end, after a stone found its way into the car and cracked an oil cooler. Congratulations to the entire PANIC team, BackDraft did a superb job - quick pit stops & driver changes. We are learning as we go along.......watch this space as there is plenty more to come from the Lamborghini Gallardo pair. More set up work will find them speeding to the front! Bring on Donnington, we'll be ready!!

Mike Wilds to drive with Panic Racing  

Mike Wilds is joing forces with Fiona James in her half of the Panic Racing car collection. They are driving together for the inaugural BritCar MSA Endurance Championship race taking place at Silverstone on March 26th 2011. Fiona said "I;m really looking forwards to sharing the drive with someone of Mikes calibre as I'm sure he will bring a lot to the team. I will obviously make sure I drive slowly so as not to embarass him on the day! On a serious note, I think I have a lot to live up to but am looking forwards to racing with Mike" www.mikewilds.com www.fionajamesracing.com